The Foreign Affairs Ministry of Ukraine is holding intensive work to free hostages from the Faina vessel captured by Somali pirates on September 25, but the negotiations cannot be made public, MFA spokesman Vasyl Kyrylych told a news briefing Tuesday.
He said talks with the pirates are being conducted by the shipowner, and on diplomatic channels. Ukraine's embassy to Kenya is considering the question of supplying food, fuel and water to the Faina.
"To preserve health and life of the hostages by maximum" is the key question for Ukraine, Kyrylych emphasized.
As reported, freight vessel Faina flying Belize colors and belonging to Panama's Waterlux company was making a commercial voyage from Ukraine's Mykolaiv to Kenya's Mombasa with 21 seamen aboard (17 citizens of Ukraine, 3 of Russia, and 1 of Latvia) carrying a defense cargo, including 33 T-72M1 and T-72M1K tanks.
The military technologies were legally purchased by Kenya's defense ministry. Yet, after the vessel was captured, foreign press, and then Ukrainian, fomented a scandal over the cargo having been allegedly carried to Sudan that is under UN restrictive sanctions.
